Hortilux bulb worth it?

[Marc Benson]

As the title says, is it worth the extra cash? Or will the stock one work fine. insidesun bulbs.

[Zandor]

They are worth every penny! imo

[Marc Benson]

If you had to guess, what would be the increased yield Hortilux vs. stock? I understand a lot effects yield, but in normal circumstances. Will it finish quicker? Thanks!

[latewood]

Even though the hortilux is worth every penny, Wouln't it be worth it to at least get a grow or 2 from your brandnew lamp before changing out?; or,
does insidesun allow you an upgrade? (you pay extra of course) with new purchase?..just wondering...thanks and sorry for butting in your thread Marc

[Marc Benson]

You can upgrade.

[Zandor]

Well for one it's 5,000 more lumens then standard.
Second the blue shift in the color spectrum allows for one bulb from start to finish, vegetation and flower. With the shift in blue that make's the red spectrum even more productive for flowering.

[latewood]

I have a mh and a hps so I haven't got the 1 light situation, but I think I might change
to this bulb ASAP to enlarge my coverage area, right now I blend the 2 lights and rotate plants 1-2 times a week...good thread, goodluck, latewood

[HARDDON]

FOr flowering, just run the HPS & MH with a 2:1 HPS ratio :)

For vegging, keep the HPS in the box it came in.

[Marc Benson]

"allows for one bulb from start to finish, vegetation and flower"

So all I need to do is buy a 400 watt hps system and put a Hortilux bulb in there and veg away plus I never have to worry about any other lights to flower with? Never heard of that before but it'd be awesome!

[latewood]

I think that is what Z said... went to inside sun...I was blowing off going there, because I haven't been in the market for lights... but I am going to have to redesign my light system before next grow...
after reading the specs and about the bulb...it has an enhanced blue and green spectrum's. your blue green is the veg spectrum, yellow amber red for flower...like autumn
so being an hps lamp it is amber for flower with enhanced blue green you can use during veg...and with everyone moving towards fluoros and cfl's for early veg; after that you have one light for the entire grow...I believe...maybe Z will come back and finish off this thread...hope this helps...latewood

[HARDDON]

The Hortilux bulb being discussed is a great light.

It has a Kelvin temp of 10K.

They dont make them much brighter than this.

MY only concern, is that during flower, while you will have the red spectrum that you need for flower, you will have the blue spectrum overlapping the red spectrum in intensity.

This is simply not how MJ best responds to light in flower.

Plants that flower in red spectrum need primary red spectrum. This type of bulb will deliver the red spectrum but it will be in an unbalanced ratio that is contrare to what MJ grows under the best.

While this may or may not affect flower size, flower density, flower propogation and propensity, I suspect it will affect flower potency.

I have studied the light spectrum and MJ reqquirements in depth...and I have yet to find anything that even remotely suggests this strong blue wave overlap will do anything other than promote vegetative growth...not flower.

I can essentially for what ever reason, buy any type light on the market...and I wouldn't veg without quality CFL's and flower without a red spectrum dominate light source.

But we all have our preferences...and this is just mine.

[Marc Benson]

I just read an article...if that means anything...that says the reason the Hortilux bulb is so good for both veg and flower is because...well here's a quote:

"However, the lack of blue spectrum light in Standard HPS bulbs can sometimes make a plant stretch during the vegetative growth stage. Enhanced Performance HPS lamps have a wider blue spectrum, which makes a significant difference in plant growth."

Sort of makes sense. But hard to question your success HD with the cfl's.

I think it's time for some major R&D.

[Zandor]

The Hortilux bulb being discussed is a great light.

It has a Kelvin temp of 10K.

They dont make them much brighter than this.

MY only concern, is that during flower, while you will have the red spectrum that you need for flower, you will have the blue spectrum overlapping the red spectrum in intensity.

This is simply not how MJ best responds to light in flower.

Plants that flower in red spectrum need primary red spectrum. This type of bulb will deliver the red spectrum but it will be in an unbalanced ratio that is contrare to what MJ grows under the best.

While this may or may not affect flower size, flower density, flower propogation and propensity, I suspect it will affect flower potency.

I have studied the light spectrum and MJ reqquirements in depth...and I have yet to find anything that even remotely suggests this strong blue wave overlap will do anything other than promote vegetative growth...not flower.

I can essentially for what ever reason, buy any type light on the market...and I wouldn't veg without quality CFL's and flower without a red spectrum dominate light source.

But we all have our preferences...and this is just mine.
Very well said HARDDON.
I switched last year now to full HPS lights. The next round of KBS will be 100% HPS Hortilux bulbs. What I have learned from the last year is this bulb grows very tight nodes, very large flowers. This is the first time in many years that the stretch during flower has stayed proportional to the growth up and out. The plants stay uniform, I guess I do use more light then anyone of you and yes that is a factor. I like to give the plant more credit then just to think the color spectrum of the light controls 100% of the plants cycle. I think the light cycle plays a bigger part then spectrum but spectrum is important as well. Once the plant senses the light cycle change I think it shifts focus on what part of the spectrum to use, the spectrum is still there maybe or maybe not is the same percentage but itâ??s still there. I find they work the very best as side light vertical hung as opposed to top light horizontal mount bulbs.
You are also correct saying itâ??s just an opinion too. Not all high tech is worth the money and just because you can afford it means should you. For me itâ??s an easy call, one bulb one transformer it a no brainier. In my opinion and from what I see before my eyes they are worth the money. The next generation out soon is even better, this bulb is built and tested growing marijuana. They are raising the bar on lights and pushing the limit.
To me the difference is 2 pounds + from each plant vs. only ounces with out proper lighting, cooling and temperature control.

[Krippysmoker]

Well I was a bit confused....I have a 430 watt with an as of yet unused Son agro....grow room should be finished by the end of this weekend. To hot last week to do shit...anyway I already purchased a 430 hortilux HPS. Now the funny thing and this was from the guy at the hydro shop...said the 400 BLUE HORTILUX for MH was better for overall plant growth and flower. Not sure if he was right or wrong but it did make me wonder if I should switch out my MH light. Let me know what you guys think....less Lumens I know...but the graph did make it look appealing....and they even compared it to the HPS hortilux...much broader spectrum

[HARDDON]

"However, the lack of blue spectrum light in Standard HPS bulbs can sometimes make a plant stretch during the vegetative growth stage. Enhanced Performance HPS lamps have a wider blue spectrum, which makes a significant difference in plant growth."


Exactly. This bulb is superior for vegetative growth compared to an HPS. No question.

But all the blue spectrum provided simply isnt needed...nor used....for flower purposes.

For flowering, MJ uses, needs and wants red spectrum, or roughly 2700K.

The plant simply doesn;t use the blue waves to grow when flowering. It is just running juice which is cool if you dont mind the bill.

Place what you want over your plants...the plant will take what it can get but only if what it needs isnt present.

If you have good red spectrum, all the blue in the world wont hurt, but the fact remains MJ uses red for flower.

There is no question about that anyhow :)

[latewood]

I am seeing this in my grow...because I have to still use what I have and I believe the 400mh is better than nothing until I can upgrade. I see that the plants that are under more of the mh light side are stay tighter and more uniform, but the budds are not keeping up with the plants under my hps.(i din't mean to grow so many, but I got 11
fems out of 18 seeds, wanted to start my stash)and the ones under the lesser 250w hps are going nuts!!! anyway, I definitely agree with all Z and H stated in this thread...I hear what Zandor says "2lbs"
I'm gonna go in the bedroom closet and get the piggybank!!!...later

[Zandor]

Itâ??s just an enhanced spectrum bulb. Like grow enhancers for vegetation and flowering. Many many others factors play their part in the growth cycle.

The bulb you are talking about is a Super horizontal or super base up metal halide bulb.

The Enhanced Spectrum H.P.S. Bulbs have both colors and work from start to finish one bulb one transformer.

[Zero Revolt]

Hello all. I myself use a 400Watt Eye Hortilux Super HPS Bulb. Now this particular bulb increases the amount of blue and green spectrum light your plants take in by 30% over standard HPS bulbs while still producing the red and yellow spectrum light you need for flowering as well. So in the end all you need is one bulb to produce cannabis from start to finish. Hardon what you said about the blue spectrum light interfering with the cannabis flowering stage is illogical. Blue or green spectrum light will not negativly affect the plants during the flowering cycle instead the plants will just not use any of the light in those spectrums. Instead the plants will only use the red and yellow spectrum light instead. Now there are other spectrums of light other than blue,green,yellow and red such as orange for starters however cannabis growers do not need to concern themselves with the other spectrums as they are too far off from the primary bands to be benifical in any way. Not trying to correct you hardon. Sorry bout that.

[Marc Benson]

My question would be this after hearing all the above info. Does the fact that the Hortilux bulb gives both the red and blue that a plant needs, does it give them in less quantities than say a straight mh (or florescent) gives blue or hps gives red? In otherwords is it more beneficial to have the mh/flouros and the hps because of more light in the frequencies needed being generated specifically by the different bulbs than all of them just by the Hortilux?

[Zandor]

Science is always evolving and good growers keep up with science and always try to learn new and better way's to grow. If you are still using the same light bulbs that were used 10 years ago you are missing a lot. You will still grow the same amount of weed you grew 10 years ago with about the same quality. If that's works for you then have fun.

Please don't put MH, HPS in the same league with fluorescents lights. Fluorescents wish they could produce the lumens MH & HPS can.

Fluorescents may work as sidelight but MH & HPS are better; fluorescents are just a lesser of evils as lights go.

Serious growers will always spend the money and take the time to try. They are not afraid to experiment and will always strive to produce the very best.

Well I'm out of words on this topic. Either you use them or you don't it's up to you.

[MyMindIsGlowing]

For flowering, what is the best BULB "red" on the market? If blue and red are shared with a horti I wonder if there is a bulb as good as a Horti but is for flowering only?

[latewood]

For flowering, what is the best BULB "red" on the market? If blue and red are shared with a horti I wonder if there is a bulb as good as a Horti but is for flowering only?read thr thread again :)

[Zero Revolt]

The two best MH and HPS bulbs on the market are Hortilux and Agrosun.

[cherokee]

My question would be this after hearing all the above info. Does the fact that the Hortilux bulb gives both the red and blue that a plant needs, does it give them in less quantities than say a straight mh (or florescent) gives blue or hps gives red? In otherwords is it more beneficial to have the mh/flouros and the hps because of more light in the frequencies needed being generated specifically by the different bulbs than all of them just by the Hortilux?

mark to awnser your question,im using a 400 watt eye hortilux mh blue and running it with a extra sun mh hps combo ballast with a aluminum winged reflector,so if i may reply to your question about eye hortilux mh blue,you should see the graph for this lamp? its got the most combo of spectrums made,blue,violet,green, orange, red,yellow,and more than standard hps by far,the one i have is almost an exact duplicate to natural sunlight,you have 24% more than standard mh spectrum 6500k blue and 24% more than standard hps all combined into one eye hortilux mh blue lamp!!! it is abslolutly incredible how strong it grows them and how fast and thick,and now im flowering and the buds are what you would expect outside,yes its that good,people say that theyve never seen buds this big indoors ohnestly untill this technology!! its got 29,000 lumans because testing told them specteral energy is far more important than high lumans,so with this amount of lumans verse the specrtal energy we cant beleive how big the flowers are in 2 weeks they are very dense also avarage 3 inchs high and an inch and a half wide in 3 weeks and very dense and sticky even the leaf is worth using weve still got several weeks of flower to go,this is a medical legal grow for i and my wife,northern lights,strait indica,and skunk 1,they were over 6 feet tall in 4 to 5 weeks,so does this give you an idea how well the combo of higher than average spectral energy from mh and hps is combined into one lamp?? its worth every penny trust me $125,if you look through high times mag ever?? theres not a bud picture in there that looks better than our flowers rite now, ohnestly we cant wait to see the final outcome in flower size they just continue to stack fast and very dense!! so far the way it looks we probly will get average 1 or 2 gram flowers not counting the huge ones,hope this helped ya understand the performance of this one?,cherokee